Brake-beam safety device



May 11 1926. 1,584,391

P. MADDOX ET AL BRAKE- BE-AM S\AFETY DEVICE Filed Jan. 14, 1925 Patented May 11, 1926.

Ultll'l'ED fill'A'l'ES PAUL MADDOX AND CLEOIST M. HANNAFORI), OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

BRAKE -BEAMI SAFETY DEVICE.

Application filed January The object of this invention-is to provide improved means for supporting brake beams of railway car trucks in case of accidental dislocation or detachment of such beams and thus preventing the fallen brake beams from becoming sources of derailment and of other danger to the car.

A number of devices having this general object in view have been patented, but in most or all of them, the immediate supporting bars have been put in place in or removed from their hangers by longitudinal movement of the bars, and this is more or less objectionable and inconvenient.

Our invention consists in arranging the beam supporting bars or safety devices in han ers depending from the spring plank in such way that the supporting bars or safety devices may be inserted in the hangers or taken from them by a bodily move ment laterally and without endwise or longitudinal movement, as we will proceed now to explain and finally claim.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of an ordinary car truck showing our invention applied thereto, parts of the truck being shown more or less conventionally. Fig. 2 is an elevation on a larger scale and partly in section showing the details of the safety construction. Fig. 8 is an end view taken in the plane of line 3-3, Fig. 2. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one of the hangers, and Fig. is the locking member of the hanger. Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation of part of a hanger and supporting bar illustrating a modification.

1 are the wheels, 2 the axles, 3 one of the side frames, 4 is the spring plank, 5, 5 are the brake beams, 6, 6 are the brake beam hangers, and 7 are the brake shoes. all of which may be of any usual or approved construction.

On opposite sides of the spring plank are riveted the hangers 8, which may have their ends9 bent over so as to hook over the vertical flanges of the spring plank memhere. 10 are the rivets by which the hangers are rigidly fixed to the spring plank. These hangers have the notches 11 extending inwardly from their outer edges, and adjacent to these notches are the locking members 12, which may be rectangular strips of metal, pivoted at 13 to the hangers and 14, 1925. Serial No. 2,326.

adapted to swing across the notches 11 in the hangers and then to be fastened in such position by any suitable means, such as screw bolts 14:.

15 is the supporting bar, one of which is used on each side of the truck, it being understood that the hangers also are arranged on opposite sides of the truck and on the spring plank, to receive such supporting bars. Each supporting bar may be a strip of suitable metal of length at least sufficient to extend a distance substan tially equal to the distance between the brake shoes, or in other words, beyond the point at which it is possible for a detached or dislocated brake beam to fall. The supporting bar has the notches 16 in its bottom edge, and these notches are'spaced apart to engage the notches 11 in the hangers and so arranged that the supporting bar may be bodily moved into and out of engagement with the notches in the hangers in the direction of the open ends of the notches 11, or, in other words, toward and from the sides of the truck, rather than, as heretofore, by longitudinal movement. The vertical edges of the notches 16 when the bar is in place in the notches 11 in its hangers engage the sides of the hangers adjacent to the notches 11 therein so as to prevent longitudinal movement of the supporting bar in said hangers.

By reference to Figs. 2, 3, 1 and 6, it will be seen that the bars 15 are arranged edgwise in use, and that they are of greater widththan the depth of the notches 11 in the hangers 8, and consequently the bars 15 can be fixed in the hangers only by alining the notches in the two, and this alinement can only be effected by arranging the bars 'edgewise vertically.

Furthermore, it will be understood that these bars 15 have no function as a suspension device for the brake beams, but merely subserve the purposes indicated by the title hereof, as safety devices to catch and support a brake beam when its suspension devices fail or the beam becomes otherwise dislocated.

After the supporting bars are thus moved into engagement with the notches in the hangers, the locking devices 12 are swung across the notches 11 and bars therein and secured to the hangers, as by the bolts 14, to prevent the accidental escape of the supporting bars from the hangers.

As shown in F 6, notches 16 and notches 17 may be arranged oppositely in both the bottom and top edges of the supporting bar, and in this case also, the notches in the hangers may be of a height only suilicient ers, and then the repaired beam or a new beam be putin place on the'trnok and the supporting bars plao'ed'in the hangers and locked "therein, v

Variations in' thedetails of construction are pe'rm'issible within the principle of the im' e'ntion and the scope of the claims following.

VVhat we claim is 1. A brake beam safety "device, applicable to any usual or approved truck, having hangers provided with open notches extending inwardly therein, and safety bars of greater width than the depth of said notches and themselves notched to permit the bars to be moved bodily and laterally into the notches in the hangers and the notches in the hangers and bars interengaged, and means to lock the bars in the notched hangers and movable to permit the bodily movement of the supporting bars into and out of the notched hangers.

2. A brake beam safety device, applicable to any usual or approved truck, having hangers provided with open notches extendin-g inwardly therein, and supporting bars of greater width than the depth of said notches and themselves notched at bottom and top so as to be capable of movement into and out of the notches in the hangers and to engage the hangers adjacent to their notches to permit the bars to be moved bodily and laterally into the notches in the hangers and to prevent longitudinal movement-of said bars in said hangers,and means to lock the bars in the notched hangers and movable top-ermit the bodilyinovement of the supp rting bars into and out of the notched hangers.

In testimony whereof we have'hereunto set our hands this 13th day of January A. D. 1925.

PAUL MADDOX. GLEON M. HANNAFORD. 

